A series of Federal and State Government policies were introduced in 2017 to address the low percentage of Aboriginal owned businesses. Governments introduced procurement policies to encourage more Aboriginal owned businesses and create employment and economic opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and Communities.
It was important for businesses like ours to respond quickly to support the use of Aboriginal owned businesses, not just because it’s a positive social initiative but also to maintain a commercial advantage when tendering for Government contracts and projects.
When we first started collecting figures on our spend with Aboriginal businesses (as part of our Reflect Reconciliation Action Plan in 2018) our spend was just $200 000 with just three Aboriginal owned businesses on our Boral preferred supplier register, typical of most of the construction industry at the time.
Last financial year was Boral’s biggest yet and a big step on our way from Good to Great. We procurement spend of $8 million with over 50 Aboriginal businesses now on our Preferred Supplier register.
"We struggled at the start like most companies, we were once knocked back on a drilling job on our own Aboriginal land which was disheartening, and employing Aboriginal people in this highly mobile industry can also be tough, but we kept at it.”
Janie Bentley, ECO Drilling Solutions.